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Plea to upgrade Virology Institute

ALAPPUZHA: The Revolutionary Socialist Party (Bolshevik) Thamarakshan faction leader A.V. Thamarakshan has demanded that the State Government exert pressure on the Union Government to convert the State Virology Institute here into a permanent institute or a regional centre of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

At a press conference here on Monday, Prof. Thamarakshan said such a move was necessary as Alappuzha had the highest incidence of water-borne and vector-borne diseases in the State during the last 10 years.

He pointed out that none of the 12 institutes or six regional centres of the ICMR functioned in the State.

He said the status of the Virology Institute, now registered as a society, limited its development.

The institute was originally formed as a project office of the ICMR's Puducherry institute.

The project office, named Vector Control Research Centre, was later upgraded as a virology institute. The ICMR had then handed over all equipment and staff of the project office to the institute.

No impediments

Prof. Thamarakshan noted that the Government had acquired eight acres of land for the institute adjacent to the T.D. Medical College, Vandanam. So there were not many impediments for the development of the institute as a permanent institute of the ICMR, he said.